Upgrade Your Mindset
The Power of Conditioning
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Conditioning
Wouldn’t it be nice to just react the way we wanted, when we wanted? Something happens in the market and you no longer have to fight the urge to do something that’s not going to serve you…
You just act correctly without thinking.
Impossible? Enter conditioning…
Conditioning is a fundamental psychological concept and it’s something that we all experience in our daily lives. When we hear a certain sound, for example, we might instinctively look around to see where it’s coming from. That’s conditioning at work.
In trading, we can use conditioning to train our minds to respond in a certain way to specific trading situations.
For example:
Let’s say that you’re working on controlling your emotions when you experience a losing trade.
You don’t want to feel any frustration or disappointment.
It’s only one trade…
Here’s what you might do:
You might condition yourself by practising a relaxation technique such as deep breathing or visualisation every time you experience a loss. Over time, your mind will start to associate that relaxation technique with the experience of losing a trade.
Eventually, you’ll be able to relax and stay focused even in the face of a losing trade.
Which can get you prepared for the next trade and avoid any nasty tilt stuff.
Powerful!
Conditioning doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time to rewire those dam neurons…
But do something long enough and it starts to stick.
Today, think about what conditioning you could do to improve your trading.
- Your emotional response to a loser?
- Your reaction to missing a trade?
- Urge to keep going when you hit a daily loss limit?
It could be anything.
But if you pick one and relentlessly practice the response you actually want, eventually your mind will do this without thinking.
7 Psychological Experiments
Like me, are you curious about how human psychology affects our actions and thinking?
This link is a quick read and outlines 7 famous psychological experiments.
Interesting!
And a reminder that sometimes our actions are illogical, but with the right environment and conditioning, we can mould them into something that serves us.